The Blog of International Judicial Assistance | By Ted Folkman of Pierce Bainbridge

Posts tagged “prejudgment remedies”

The case of the day is SCL Basilisk AG v. Agribusiness United Savannah Logistics LLC (11th Cir. 2017). SCL Basilisk AG chartered a ship, the SCL Basilisk, to Agribusiness United, which was to be used to carry grain from New Orleans to Portugal and Morocco. At Agribusiness’s request, Sonada Agro Limited (UK) LLC took Agribusiness’s place as charterer. Sonada issued a letter of indemnity (Agribusiness United was the guarantor) requiring Sonada to post security in case the ship was arrested or detained and to indemnify SCL Basilisk AG against damage. In fact, the ship was arrested in New Orleans for reasons that aren’t important to the case. Sonada was late in posting security, which caused SCL Basilisk AG nearly half a million dollars in…

In recent posts on 3M Co. v. Christian Investments LLC and H-D Michigan, LLC v. Hellenic Duty-Free Shops, S.A., I opined that given that courts have jurisdiction to enter temporary restraining orders binding foreign defendants before service of process, they should also have jurisdiction to enter preliminary injunctions before service of process, as long as the defendant received constitutionally adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard. The basis for my view was that if we assume that a court may enter a TRO in such cases, there is no jurisdictional reason to treat preliminary injunctions differently. I want to follow the train of thought a little farther and ask how a US plaintiff would go about providing constitutionally adequate notice to a foreign…

The case of the day is H-D Michigan, LLC v. Hellenic Duty Free Shops S.A. (E.D. Wis. 2011). HD-Michigan and Harley-Davidson Motor Co. sued Hellenic for breach of a trademark licensing agreement. The court issued a temporary restraining order effective for fourteen days, which enjoined Hellenic from using Harley-Davidson’s trademarks. In the case of the day, Harley-Davidson asked the judge to extend the order until it could effect service of process on Hellenic in Greece under the Hague Service Convention. On the one hand, Rule 65(b)(2) provides: [A temporary restraining] order expires at the time after entry—not to exceed 14 days—that the court sets, unless before that time the court, for good cause, extends it for a like period or the adverse party consents…